Athletics Canada posted that Shawn Barber broke the NCAA and Canadian record in the men's pole vault with a jump of 5.87m.

However it is hard to see it being an NCAA record because Barber was not competing for the University of Akron during the time of the meet, he was unattached. Most NCAA D1 schools are actually 'out of season' over the break in order to reserve practice days for the remainder of the year. The jump will also not stand for qualifying purposes because the pole vault expo does not meet the standards set by the NCAA to be a track and field meet.

So in my opinion, it is pretty clear that it should not be ratified as a NCAA record. Beyond being enrolled at Akron, Barber technically had no affiliation with the actual team or the NCAA during the meet. The main question is for the Canadian record. If the jump is good and the runway was surveyed properly, then it should stand as a record. However, you can watch the video and decide for yourself if the jump should have been called good or not.

Some people may say that it was called good by the official so of course it is good. But these meets have been shown to have a little favoritism towards the athletes in letting things 'slide'. I have actually never seen volzing called except during a championship when one coach protest it. However I have never seen it used during a record jump either...

How about being called at the World Championship - certain German vaulter then made it again without touching it -- proceed to moon a certain section of the stands -- so yes it does get called at even the highest levels

PV2020, can you please provide the link to where Athletics Canada posted that he broke the Canadian record? It seems to me that a governing body like Athletics Canada would distinquish between ratified and non-ratified marks.

Thanks.

Kirk

Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!

Not sure how you can say he steadied the bar with his hand. Its also probably irrelevant whether this mark qualifies as an NCAA or Canadian record at this point. This will not be Shawn's best mark this year. My money says he will flirt with 6.09 before indoors is over.

Because he was competing as an unattached athlete at a preseason event, the mark is considered a collegiate record, but will not go into NCAA record books.

I'm a little disappointed that Athletics Canada isn't taking a more official position on this unratified Canadian record. Instead of getting into the social media news aggregation business, I would have personally preferred that Athletics Canada stick to processing and ratifying Canadian records, and leaving the social media aspects of our sport (hype, speculation, and rumour of unratified marks) to other websites.

Or at least caution readers that certain marks are unratified.

There's actually 2 new unratified clearances that Shawn made in this meet (19-0 and 19-3), and I question whether the 19-0 is even being considered by Athletics Canada as a possible new record (in case the 19-3 is deemed invalid due to Volzing)?

Kirk

Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!